In the 58 presidential elections since 1788, third party or independent candidates have won at least 5.0% of the vote or garnered electoral votes 12 times (21%); this does not count George Washington, who was elected as an independent in 1788–1789 and 1792, but who largerly supported Federalist policies and was supported by Federalists. Occasionally, a third party becomes one of the two major parties through a presidential election (the last time it happened was in 1856, when the Republicans supplanted the Whigs, who had withered and endorsed the ticket of the American Party): such an election is called a realigning election, as it causes a realignment in the party system; according to scholars, there have been six party systems so far. Only once one of the two major parties came third in an election, but that did not cause a realignment (in 1912 the Progressive Party surpassed the Republicans, but the party quickly disappeared and the Republicans re-gained their major party status). The last third party candidate to win one or more states was George Wallace of the American Independent Party in 1968, while the most recent third party candidate to win more than 5.0% of the vote was Ross Perot, who ran as an independent and as the standard-bearer of the Reform Party in 1992 and 1996, respectively.

In the 302 gubernatorial elections since 1990, third party or independent candidates have won at least 5.0% of the vote 49 times (16%), while six candidates have won election (2%). The most recent third party or independent governor to win was Alaska's Bill Walker, a Republican turned independent, in 2014.

In the 380 Senate elections since 1990, third party or independent candidates have won at least 5.0% of the vote 32 times (8%); two of those candidates (0.5%) have won, both in 2012 (Bernie Sanders and Angus King, who both decided to caucus with the Democrats; Sanders received Democratic support during his 2006 and 2012 electoral campaigns). In 6 of the 32 races, one or the other of the major parties failed to nominate any candidate, allowing third-party candidates to perform better than usual.

Prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment, most states did not hold direct elections to the Senate, with Senators instead being elected by the state legislatures. The results listed below are cases in which a third party candidate won or was reasonably close to receiving 5.0% of the legislative vote. Winners are shown in bold.

Listed below are Mayoral elections in which a third party or independent candidate won won or were reasonably close to receiving 5.0% of the vote (greater than 4.95%). Winners are shown in bold. All elections are organized by State. These lists do not however include Non-Partisan Elections, where the political affiliations of the candidates aren't shown on the ballot, leaving no real major or minor party candidates.

Listed below are sets of House elections in which a third party or independent candidate won or were reasonably close to receiving 5.0% of the vote (greater than 4.95%). Winners are shown in bold. In some of the listed cases a faction or factions of a State major party ran against each other, often making it difficult to ascertain which was the mainline candidate and which was the bolter; in such cases, those candidates which are not listed on a standard major party line are still listed, but are not considered traditional third party victories as often these candidates sat in Congress as affiliated party members (barring cases like Joe Lieberman who, upon winning re-election in 2006 as a third party candidate, sat as an Independent Democrat).